Federal Regulations on Health Care
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Federal regulations in the health care system is a vital aspect. An example of the 2012 US Supreme court case that provided hearings on patient protection as of the Affordable Care Act of 2010, best illustrates the importance. These cases emanated from several district court decision that addressed needs to regulate on who to provide specific health services, methods of reimbursement and the financial cost incurred to patients. Furthermore, it is critical to understand the ethical theories and legal concepts that govern the state and federal regulation on health care systems.
The United States develop legal laws in the health care system to regulate the well-being of its citizens and medical professions. The Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986, for instance, gives protection to medical institutions and professors when carrying out the assessment. It was as a result of the Supreme Court ruling that sought to protect physicians peer-reviewed process that was regularly abused. Ever since the enactment to date, medical professionals and institutions are protected from peer review lawsuits that deem the process unethical. Thus, physicians are encouraged to file lawsuits to any unprofessional or dangerous encounter in their peer review process.
Medicare provides insurance coverage to all US American citizens. To ensure that every American across the state is entitled to health services, President Truman launched this initiative in the year 1945. Even though critics question the survivability aspect of the program due to financial costs incurred, Congressional Budget Office predicts that the program will be able to sustain itself. Moreover, for low-income American citizens, Medicaid provides insurance coverage to meet their medical needs. Presently, the Medicaid program provides medical coverage to over 70 million Americans, accounting for over 50 percent of medical expenses reimbursed in hospitals in 2014 (RegisCollege, n.d.). Medicaid covers individuals such as the disabled, expected mothers with no insurance and unemployed citizens. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is another form of federal regulation in the health care system. The Act protects American workers as they shift from one job to another. The program is also efficient in replacing lost coverage and adjust to family changes such as adoptions. Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act, on the other hand, protects workers medical care with unsafe conditions. Workers get to report their conditions using this cover while maintaining private rights.
Furthermore, through the Children’s Health Insurance Program, children living below the average income get to cater for their medical needs. The program provides medical coverage to underprivileged infants as the federal government regulates the funds through giving and receiving funds from respective states. In accounts of excessive costs of readmission rates in Medicare and Medicaid Services, Hospital Readmission Reduction Program regulates the medical payouts of patients to hospitals (RegisCollege, n.d.). The program enables patients to account for less cost in admission back to the hospital for thirty days. Also, the Affordable Act of 2010 provides that every American citizen to attain a health insurance coverage, failure to which will attract a essay writing help penalty except a few protected groups. The initiative brought forward by President Obama, calls for corporations and enterprises with over 200 employees to get medical coverage for its employees. The act also provides a platform where citizens can evaluate different health care insurance plans and evaluate which is more convenient.
While conducting different federal regulation in the health care sector, it’s critical to upholding ethics in the process. According to Sade, (2012) ethical foundation in the health sector mainly relies on two system, central government planning, and the free market. Sade suggest that health care is a right of any American citizen, a concept brought forward by Delano Roosevelt in 1944. The argument to whether such a right exists is a debatable topic. Even so, the rights to health care are not recognized by US law as such, with the only close link being the Affordable Care Act of 2010. In the free market, ethics is viewed as an individual perception of what is right or wrong in the health sector with little government intervention. In this sector, the government supports metanormative ethics that believes the work of the government is to provide a system that respects the liberty of an individual and does not use force to coerce people into specific actions (Sade, 2012). Hence metanormative ethics is contrary to the Affordable Care Act of 2010 that relies mostly on centralized federal control. The centralized health care calls for collectivizing health care, a good example being the ACA. Even though the health status of a person is based on the individual wants and priority, the ACA calls for every American citizen to obtain insurance coverage.
Rodger and Blackshaw (2017), view ethical consideration in the health sector under the main four theories: utilitarianism, deontology, virtual ethics, and principlism. Utilitarianism considers an action right if it brings more pleasure than pain and wrong if it does the vice versa — actions that morally right maximize on the utility to create the most benefit for everyone as a whole and not the individuals. However, deontology system has a slight advantage over the utilitarianism as it emphasizes specific actions that are intrinsically good or bad that must be pursued or avoided (Rodger & Blackshaw, 2017). Sacrificing an organ of a particular person for the benefit of many may seem to be utilitarian but proves to be unethical. Is it ethical in any way to torture a specific person to save many? Virtue ethics, on the other hand, emphasizes that moral grounds are obtained by constantly developing a good character that will always act appropriately and not by maximum benefit of the people or following guided rules (Rodger & Blackshaw, 2017). Principlism shapes moral character in four main principles, maleficence, autonomy, beneficence and non-maleficence.
Majumder and Guerrini, (2016) research narrow down to privacy in an ethical foundation. Majumder suggests that confidentiality is an essential aspect of a professional relationship and it’s unethical for medical professionals to disclose unauthorized information about its patient. Hence, patients are entitled to full coverage of the information they give. Furthermore, Opinion 5.05 of codes of Ethics asserts that a patient is allowed to disclose comprehensive information bearing in mind that the physician will protect the information (Majumder & Guerrini, 2016). Majumder suggests that beneficence and fiduciary are entitled to ensure that they do not cause harm to patients. Any medical proceeding that causes damage to patients is considered unethical.
Additionally, codes of ethics provide that patients have a right on whom to share personal information with and medical professions must respect the decision. However, there exist instances that call for legal obligations to disclose information that may be private. Under such circumstances, such actions cannot be considered unethical. Reporting child abuse cases to child protection agencies and communicable infections to health authorities is disclosing patient information that in turn not unethical.
References
Majumder, M. A., & Guerrini, J. D. (2016, March 2016). Federal Privacy Protections: Ethical Foundations, Sources of Confusion in Clinical Medicine, and Controversies in Biomedical Research. AMA Journal of Ethics. Retrieved December Monday, 2018, from https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/federal-privacy-protections-ethical-foundations-sources-confusion-clinical-medicine-and/2016-03
Regis college. (n.d.). 8 Important Regulations in United States Health Care. Retrieved December Monday, 2018, from https://online.regiscollege.edu/blog/8-important-regulations-united-states-health-care/
Rodger, D., & Blackshaw, B. (2017, November). An introduction to ethical theory for healthcare assistants. Retrieved October 12, 2018
Sade, R. M. (2012, May 23). Health Care Reform: Ethical Foundations, Policy, and Law. Retrieved December Monday, 2018, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4486288/
